Line Butterflyfish

About

The lined butterflyfish (Chaetodon lineolatus) holds the title of largest species in its genus, and it carries that distinction with a bold, graphic look. A white body crossed with thin vertical black lines, a broad black rear band, and a bright yellow wash across the tail and dorsal fin. In the wild it ranges across a huge swath of the Indo-Pacific, from the Red Sea and East Africa all the way out to Hawaii and the Marquesas, turning up on lagoon reefs and seaward slopes wherever coral cover is dense. Like a lot of butterflyfishes, it tends to cruise in bonded pairs, and that pairing behavior carries into the breeding season as well. The diet in the wild leans heavily on coral polyps and anemones, which is the core challenge for anyone thinking about keeping one. A fish that's wired to pick at live coral is genuinely difficult to wean onto substitute foods, and even experienced keepers sometimes struggle to establish a reliable feeding routine. This one is best suited to hobbyists who already have some butterflyfish experience and can commit to a large, well-maintained system. When it does settle in, it's a long-lived and genuinely impressive fish. Just not one to take on lightly.